Bears Sink Whalers Behind Lee-Maeba’s Hat Trick

September 13, 2017

The girls’ soccer team brought plenty of excitement to Buyer’s Park for a second straight Friday night in a 6-0 victory over Pierson/Bridgehampton.

The Blue Fan Group barely had time to find their seats before the Bears were on the board as Beth Felix got the scoring started just 1:21 into the match. After going 0-10 on corner kick opportunities in last Friday night’s victory over Mercy, Felix took matters into her own hands by sending an in-swinger toward the far post. The ball skimmed off the head of a Pierson defender and into the side netting, but the ball would have found the goal anyway had the defender not been there.

Ten minutes later the Bears struck again. After Pierson failed to clear the ball, Jessica Nwachukwu sent a ball into the box that was misplayed by the keeper. Dahlia Cyrille pursued the play and put herself in a perfect position to knock it home for a 2-0 lead.

The Bears continued attacking, keeping constant pressure on the Pierson backs. Donna Sanders put a number of quality shots on goal, but Pierson’s keeper came up with several impressive stops to keep the Bears at bay. Leka Lee-Maeba and Madison Logan also led wave after wave at the Pierson defense until they finally broke through with 11:57 left in the half. The play began when Beth Felix sent a great ball to space deep in the box to the left of the goal. Logan ran it down and one-touched a pass to Lee-Maeba who buried it for her first of three goals on the night, giving the Blue and White a commanding 3-0 halftime edge.

The Bears continued to force the action and extended their lead less than ten minutes into the half when Felix deflected a Pierson clear attempt. The ball fortuitously bounced in front of Lee-Maeba who sent it into the right netting from just past the penalty shot mark. Lee-Maeba completed her hat trick at the 28:55 mark on a great individual effort by intercepting the goal kick, dribbling past two defenders, and firing a shot past a third to put the Bears ahead 5-0. Sanders capped the scoring barrage with 7:19 remaining when she recovered a deflected pass, dribbled past a defender and placed a shot in the back right corner. Sanders’ goal was much deserved as she was the Bears’ workhorse all night, dominating play in the middle of the field and spearheading numerous attacks.

The defense was impressive all night as Nwachukwu, Caroline Maglione, Alyssa Martinez, and Rachel Leccese flew around the backfield, snuffing out any flame emitted by the Pierson forwards. Sophia DiLavore recorded the shutout in goal, making several impressive stops in the process. The win helped the Bears maintain their dominance over their league rivals, who were last victorious over the Brook on Sept. 27, 2007.

The Bears are back in action tomorrow in a home match-up with Babylon.